Alaska Airlines Passenger Stabbed With Homemade Pen Weapon

What He Brought Aboard

On the final descent into Las Vegas, a passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight stood up from his seat, walked to the restroom, and returned with something he had assembled before boarding: three ballpoint pens bound together with hair bands, fashioned into a homemade stabbing weapon.

On July 1, 2026, Julio Alvarez Lopez, 38, pleaded guilty in federal court to felony assault with a dangerous weapon for the attack he carried out aboard Alaska Airlines Flight AS-604 on January 24, 2024. He told investigators he intended to shove the weapon through the victim’s eye and into his brain.

The Victim and His Family

The man Lopez attacked was seated across the aisle with his wife and their 7-year-old son. There was no prior connection between them. Witnesses described Lopez as fidgety throughout the flight, repeatedly getting up to search through his bag in the overhead bin.

According to the federal complaint, the victim sustained injuries to his upper body and eye area that required surgical stitches. During the attack, his wife was struck while shielding their child.

The Attack

About 30 minutes before the plane was scheduled to land, Lopez left his seat, went to the restroom, and upon returning, suddenly and without warning began punching, hitting, and stabbing the passenger across the aisle with the pen weapon. Witnesses told investigators there was ‘blood everywhere’ as the victim’s wife screamed at Lopez to stop.

Flight crew and passengers physically restrained Lopez for the remainder of the flight. When the aircraft landed at Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers boarded and took him into custody.

In a post-arrest interview in which he waived his Miranda rights, Lopez told FBI agents he had intentionally built the weapon before boarding, selected the victim because the man had been ‘looking at him in a harassing way,’ and that he believed the victim was connected to a criminal organization that had been following him. He said he ‘planned on attacking and killing’ the victim and had intended to shove the pen weapon ‘into the victim’s brain’ through the eye.

Guilty Plea, September Sentencing

Lopez, a Mexican national who was granted legal permanent resident status in the United States in 2018, was held in custody following his arrest. Prior to trial, he underwent a mental health evaluation to determine fitness to stand trial.

On July 1, 2026, he pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah confirmed Lopez will remain in federal detention without bond until sentencing. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2026.

The Cost of a Seat Across the Aisle

The victim was a father traveling with his wife and their 7-year-old son on a routine Alaska Airlines flight. He had never seen the man seated across from him before.

The attack lasted less than two minutes. The consequences - stitches, a child who witnessed it, a family flight turned into a crime scene - were not brief. For Julio Alvarez Lopez, the reckoning arrives in September.

References: Man Pleads Guilty to Stabbing Passenger During Flight to Las Vegas | Man pleads guilty to stabbing passenger on flight to Las Vegas

The Truth In Facts team was assisted by generative AI technology in creating this content